<p>My best friend and I are both ranked 1 & 2 of our class (not sure if we’re well beyond the other 600 students) and have taken every course at our campus that boosts the GPA, and have taken over 60 hours of college courses at the local university to boost the GPA further. </p>
<p>During our junior year (currently seniors) we took Calculus AP and decided to take the BC exam instead of the AB exam, which we got a 5 on, giving us credit for Calculus 2 in college. We have a free slot in our schedule this year that we could fill in, however there is nothing that boosts weight during that class period, and my friend was thinking that we should have a Calculus 2 AP course created so that we could get a GPA boost from that (the creation of courses is possible at my campus). The only problem I have with this what would the Ivy Leagues think if they saw me taking Calculus 2 AP after I earned a 5 on the Calculus BC exam. I was thinking of switching it out for UIL Math (another course we’re thinking of creating during the time period, which won’t boost our GPA, but would serve as an elective in which we practice for competitive mathematics (known in Texas as UIL).)</p>
<p>Main question: Do you think it would be wise to take the Calculus 2 AP with the UIL sponsor to get a GPA boost even though we already have 5’s on the Calculus BC and it might strike the admissions officers as odd, or should we be true to our word and take the UIL Math course, because even with the Calculus 2 AP, we would just be studying UIL Mathematics regardless?</p>
<p>When you say this, do you mean it respectively? Like, is he/she #1 and you #2? If so, tell him that you’re signing up for the UIL Math course, so he does, and then you subtlely switch over to Calculus 2 AP with the UIL sponsor to get the GPA boost. And bam; you are now the valedictorian.</p>
<p>I kid.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will make any difference. What is your GPA? If it is already like a 4.0, then there’s no point.</p>
Emphasis added. I think that Yale and other Ivy League universities would reject both you and your friend without a second thought if they connected you with the foregoing statements. One of the worst application sins you could commit would be to get caught having “boosting your GPA” determine what courses you take on a consistent basis.</p>
<p>I recognize (and they would) that you are just responding rationally – sort of – to the messages your school sends about what is valued. But it’s toolish. In the elite college ideology, you are supposed to learn because you love learning, or because you are so passionate about some questions that you need to figure out how to answer them. Or both. Not because you are addicted to notching your gun.</p>
<p>Sorry. </p>
<p>I know this is tough, but if I were you, I would worry about how to keep your teachers and GCs from communicating to colleges the attitude you have probably communicated to them. And I would take an art course.</p>
<p>you have to show colleges that your not a robot. academic classes and “boosting” classes are good and all, but you have to show something else about you. thats why he said art. its good to try something new and be creative rather then just focus on getting that weighted GPA as high as possible. for god sakes colleges want people not mindless machines that spend their whole high school doing every single thing they can to make themselves competitive for an ivy league school.</p>
<p>That’s sort of what I was thinking. I’ve never been one for boosting your GPA/ranking through classes. If you have high hopes for college, you should definitely take the most rigorous curriculum you can, but never take a class just to boost yourself. If you love the challenge of difficult classes and learning from them, by all means, go for it. BUT, you should also take classes that you will enjoy and will also make you a well rounded citizen. I was thinking art would be fantastic, but honestly, any class he wants to take for “fun”, if you will, would be fantastic. For example, I love DECA and business classes, but have no interest in pursuing that in college. It’s just something I love to do.</p>
<p>In no sense am I doing all this for the sole purpose of GPA boosting. I love learning and am very passionate about every subject in school, especially math (ranked 3rd in the state for UIL mathematics based on last years state competition). </p>
<p>No, it is not respectively that he is rank 1 and I am rank 2, we don’t know who is which. The boosts we received from the college courses and classes we took was indirectly, because our main purpose in those classes was to learn and have a fun time doing so. If I had portrayed a cocky sense in the first post of this thread and a sense that everything I do is to maximize my GPA, then that isn’t the case.</p>
<p>I just want to know what a college would think if they saw Calculus 2 AP as a class after receiving a 5 on the BC.</p>
They would think you were lying in everything else you said above.</p>
<p>You took calculus. You got a 5 on the calculus AP exam. Why would you take calculus again, if not solely to boost your GPA? That’s what anyone, not just an admissions person, would think.</p>
<p>Why don’t you go learn something you don’t know already? Why don’t you take something that is challenging and new for you? Or fun? Or that uses another part of your brain?</p>
<p>seriously…listen to yourself. I know you say you have the situation taken care of, but step back for a minute. This is your last year of high school. Enjoy yourself. If math is your thing, then by all means take the UIL class—for the fun of it. If there is a language class, or art class, or whatever, that you have an interest in, then go in that direction. It is redundant to take the BC class if you have mastered the material. It is a waste of your time.</p>